The Pacific Gas and Electric Hunters Point Site is a multi-faceted property in the midst of a complex, multi-year transformation. Since 2013, envelope A+D in collaboration with RHAA and Liz Ogbu (Studio O) have led an innovative planning process, NOW Hunters Point, using interim uses to cultivate a deeper, ongoing dialogue with the community about the site’s future development. Hunters Point Shoreline, a new hundred-foot wide public access improvement, is the first permanent project informed by this process to move forward.

Fostering community access to and enjoyment of the site’s shoreline was the impetus for the project. The project stretches along the bay from Heron’s Head Park to India Basin, and incorporates an extension of the Blue Greenway, a bicycle and pedestrian path running along the San Francisco’s waterfront. A series of gathering areas along the path capture different vantage points and highlight the inherent qualities of the site.

Visitors will experience a sense of immersion in the landscape as well as the site’s layered history. As they move from sculpted hardscapes with native plantings to open meadows by John Greenlee, an overlay of didactic elements—text and graphics embedded within the park’s concrete walls, pathways and benches—will reveal the community voices and events that define site’s legacy.

The NOW Hunters Point community process was integral to the development of the vision, design and historical content of the Hunters Point Shoreline’s vision. After fulfilling an intensive approvals process including the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the Hunters Point Shoreline is under construction and expected to open in spring 2017.